Rising Fire
by sharkboy572
Summary: Nicholai was alone and without purpose for as long as he can remember until he was found by Natsu, a Fairy Tail wizard, who takes him under his wing as a wizard after Nicholai joins Fairy Tail. Nicholai excels as a wizard and is soon nominated for the s-class wizard exam.
1. Chapter 1

I was alone, purely and simply alone. No family, no friends, no one to turn to. I had no purpose; I was just a body walking on this Earth, waiting for the end. Then, one day, he found me, and he saved me from myself. The stranger said, "Hey, are you okay?" No one had ever bothered to notice me, much less talk to me with concern, but this person; he was different than all of the others. "Sure, but I am actually really hungry, do you have any food?" I asked. "Yeah," he said as he reached into his pouch, handing me some bread, he said, "Here you go, eat this." I said," Thanks, who are you?" He responded, " I am Natsu, Natsu Dragneel, and you? What is your name?" I said, "I am Nicholai, Nicholai Kasai. Thank you Natsu, but I really have troubled you for long enough, I should get going." Natsu then exclaimed, "Don't be ridiculous, I don't mind helping you. Speaking of which, why are you out here all alone?" Surprised with his warmth towards me, I tried to answer him, but the moment I thought about my own predicament I started to cry, and the only thing I could manage to say was, "Not a day goes by, where I don't ask myself the same question." I started to fall over in sadness, but then he caught me and said," Yeah, I think I know what you are going through, the loneliness, the sadness, you are the same as when I first lost Igneel. He was my only friend, he was my only family, and then he left. I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, but then I found Fairy Tail. They became my family; they were the only things in my life that mattered to me. So come with me, and find your new family in Fairy Tail." I couldn't say anything except; "I can't thank you enough, Natsu, for being the first one to care for me, for giving me a future, for being my only friend when no one else was, and for saving me from my own darkness."

*TIMESKIP the next day*

"So," I said, "This is Fairy Tail?" "Yep!" said Natsu. "For some reason, I thought people would treat each other more like family rather than beating themselves half to death, but at least they are high spirited" I said as I stared at the utter chaos that was the guildhall. "Don't worry about it," Natsu said, "they're just messing around like they always do." A short old man approached us and said, "Hi, I am Makarov, the guild master, and who might you be?" "I am Nicholai Kasai, Natsu found me and brought me here," I said in response. "Well, as the guild master, I welcome you to Fairy Tail, if you do wish to join," Makarov said. "Thank you sir, I would like that very much." "Alright," Makarov said," Where would you like your guild mark, and what color would you like?" "I would like a brown mark, and could I have it right below my right shoulder?" I said. "Sure, no problem," said Makarov, "and if you don't mind me asking, what magic do you use?" I said, "Oh, um, I don't really know any magic yet." "Don't worry about that," Natsu said," I can teach you dragonslayer magic." "Really?" I asked, "You don't mind?" "Of course not, I have already helped you this much. Why stop?" Natsu exclaimed. For one of the first times in my life, I smiled and said "Thanks Natsu! When can we start?" "Right now, let's go to my house so we don't disturb anyone!" He said excitedly. On the way there, Natsu asked me a question. "Nicholai, if it is okay that I ask, what exactly happened to leave you all alone?" I said, "I honestly have been alone for as long as I can remember. Barely getting by, I was living for nothing and no one, and living without a purpose is one of the worst ways to live. You and the rest of the guild are my first family, and I cannot thank you enough for everything that you have done for me. But let's not focus on that now; I am happy now that I am in Fairy Tail with you and everyone else." Wow, Natsu thought, when I was alone I found people like Igneel or my friends in Fairy Tail, but he's been alone all this time. It must have really been tough for him, and I can't even begin to understand the full extent of his suffering, so helping him like this is the least I can do.

They approached what looked like a small cottage as Natsu said, "All right, we're here, so lets start your training." "Ok, what's first?" I said. "First thing to do is build up your resistance to fire," Natsu said as he made fire appear in his hand," Ok now gradually get closer and closer to the fire as your body gets used to it." I was only at most two yards away from it and the heat was already tremendous, but surprisingly it wasn't taking very long for my boy to get used to it. Even Natsu seemed dumbfounded as I was standing inches away from the flame within a matter of minutes. "Okay, now I am going to surround you with the flame until you aren't bothered by it anymore. Slowly but surely, over the course of about an hour he became used to the flames. "Wow Nicholai, you really are getting through this training fast, getting to this stage in the training took almost an entire day for me." Natsu said, "But now it is going to get tough. I am going to use my fire dragon's roar on you until you can resist both its heat and force." "What? Is that safe?" I exclaimed. Natsu said, "Don't worry, the heat shouldn't be too much of a problem for you because it doesn't exert too much force on the target, it is really the heat you have to worry about. You ready?" "That wasn't very reassuring, but okay, let's do this." I said. "Alright then!" said Natsu," Fire dragon roar!" The attack flew at Nicolai as he braced himself and yelled, "Here it comes!" But then suddenly, the exact moment that the attack touched Nicholai it immediately darted to the left as if it had a mind of it's own. "What was that?" Natsu exclaimed, " Nicholai did you do anything?" "I just asked in my mind for the fire not to hit me, and I felt some sort of power build up in me and the fire darted to the left as if it heard me." My god, Natsu thought, what is this kid!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, i hope you like this next chapter, and know that i won't always be uploading daily. I just wanted to do this to kick everything off. Anyway, i hope you like it.**

* * *

"Hey Nicholai, are you sure that you haven't been taught any kind of magic before? Because I have never seen anyone have such powerful manipulation over their magic power that they can manipulate another person's magic." Natsu inquired. "For about the tenth time, no, I have never known any magic before my training with you." I said. "Well then Nicholai, you have a serious gift. I can't even manipulate my own magic that well much less divert my own enemy's attack." Even though he didn't face my fire dragon roar's full force, seeing as how close he came to it without even flinching or breaking a sweat I think he is ready for the next stage of the training Natsu thought.

Natsu then said, "All right, let's got to the next part of training, I am going to need you to try and produce some flames. You remember that feeling of power you had when you diverted my attack? I want you to try and bring that power out again, but this time; give it form from your own internal heat, which you should be able to raise without harming yourself due to the training we just went through. The higher you make your internal temperature, the more effective your attacks will be. If this works, you should be surrounded in your own flames if you would ever flare up your magic power like that again." "Ok, so the higher my internal temperature is, the more numerous and hotter the flames I produce will be?" I asked. "Yes, so if you can manage to control your internal temperature more effectively, you can get to learning the more advanced aspects of dragonslayer magic, but enough talk, lets see how you do."

"Alright, lets do this! Focus, raise my body temperature, and then flare my magic power. Haaaaaaaaaaa!" To both Natsu's and Nicholai's surprise, Nicholai instantly became surrounded in a thick coat of flames "ON YOUR FIRST TRY, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Natsu screamed, "I mean, great job. You really do have a talent for dragonslayer magic." Then with a dreaded look on his face Natsu thought, I had better train with him so I can be ready for him if he manages to catch up to me. "Alright, just a couple more things and you should be ready to start training on your own. Focusing and manipulating those flames, and then breathing and eating flames, but before that it's time for lunch. How convenient, you appear to be covered in flames, a perfect meal." He said as he walked towards me, and when he was next to me he said, "As a fire dragonslayer eating flames not only replenishes your magic power, but it also increases that power and fills up your belly." As he swallowed the flames around me I asked, " Okay, you have explained what it does, but how exactly do you do it?" "Well, *burp*, excuse me, just come over here and have a taste. After doing the heat resistance training and at the rate you have been progressing, this should be a snap," He said as he engulfed his body in flames. I'm doomed, Nicholai thought as he walked over to Natsu. "Also," Natsu added," It is easier if you treat it like you are sucking something up and out of a straw, because it is kind of a gas so, yeah." "Okay, I'll try to." To no one's surprise this time, Nicholai consumed the flames with ease. Natsu thought is there anything this kid doesn't have a talent for? "Alright, now use that power and focus it in your chest, then force it from the lungs, up your throat, and out the mouth," Natsu said. "Okay," I said nervously, "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Fire dragon roar!" I yelled as a massive fireball was ejected from my mouth. "Awesome," Natsu said," now, we need to work on both manipulating and focusing the flames you produce. Instead of flaring up your magic power and surrounding yourself in flames, I want you to be able to focus all of that power into the limb or limbs you will be attacking with. Then, you will need to manipulate those flames by compressing them, so not only will the burn more, but also they will increase your striking power exponentially. So, start by producing a large flame on each of your feet and hands separately." "Okay," I said, "will do." Then, suddenly a large amount of flames appeared on his hands and feet, from his right hand to his left hand to his right foot to his left foot. "Great, now I want you to do it just with your right hand, but this time concentrate all of those flames so they just form a thick coating of flames around your hand." Ok I thought, just remember how you diverted those flames before, but now concentrate al of your flames into one hand and compress them. "Haaaaaaaaaaa!" I yelled as the flames compressed more and more, almost crushing my own hand. Wow, Natsu thought, I may actually be surpassed by this kid. "Great job Nicholai, now that you can do this, you can start training on your own, developing even more techniques. Now you are an official dragonslayer, Congratulations." Natsu said, "In fact, do you want to make a team with me? We could go on all of our quests together, and I would be a lot of fun." I tried to hold it back, but I still ended up crying," Thank you *sniff* Natsu *sniff* my brother."

* * *

**I hope you liked it, also me and my friend SoulTail7 will have our fan fictions occasionally intertwine, and for those of you who haven't seen her fan fiction you should go check it out. It's title is Green as Grass, and she does an incredible job with it, so I hope you read it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it, and just so you know, Nicholai is 14 now and Natsu is about 15 or 16. Also, i will try to upload once a week, but i may not always be able to. Anyways thanks and i hope you like the chapter.**

* * *

As we walked back to the guildhall, Natsu asked me," Hey Nicholai, I probably should've asked this sooner, but why did you call me your brother back there?" I smiled and said, "Well, I called you that because you remind me of what I always thought a brother would be like." "Also," Natsu said," How do you remember things like your name, and your age?" I said," Well, it is kind of hard to explain. It's almost like I have a form of amnesia, with a few memories vaguely imprinted into my mind." This kid really has had it rough Natsu thought. "Hey Natsu," I said. "Yeah?" He said in response. I asked," Would you be okay with it if I made my middle name Dragneel, because I never remember having a middle name. I guess since you were the one who helped me get away from my horrible past, I wanted to take part of your name." Natsu thought, has this kid really become that fond of me? Natsu said, "Sure, why not, I don't mind." We entered the guildhall to see a riot going on just like when we were first here. "Hey Nicholai, now that you know some magic, do you want to join in the fight?" Natsu said. "Sure," I said, "Why not." I nearly lost myself in the crowd of people being thrown around and beaten half to death. Then I came across a black haired man without his shirt on. The man said, "You want to fight?" "Sure," I said. He yelled, "ICE MAKE: HAMMER!" A giant hammer made of ice came slamming down on me. I barely managed to dodge as I yelled, "FIRE DRGON ROAR!" The man wasn't expecting that from me and took a direct hit and went flying across the guildhall. Almost all of the guild members stopped fighting and started to stare at me in surprise. But then, Natsu yelled, "Alright, great job Nicholai!" After that the fighting started to die down, or at least people were refraining from fighting me. Then, a red haired woman in armor came up to me and said, "You seem pretty strong, how about a little bit of sparring?" Before I could say anything Natsu came over to me and said, "Don't do it Nicholai, Erza is too much of am opponent for you, she won't go down as easily as Grey." I said, "Well then, I guess she can be a test to how strong I really am. Seeing as you are afraid of her, I bet she has beaten you before, so let's make a wager. If I can beat her, then you will always acknowledge me as your superior until you beat her yourself." Nicholai's personality has changed a lot from that lonely kid I found wandering around without a purpose Natsu thought.

"You ready Erza, 'cause here I come!" I exclaimed as I rushed towards her. Erza yelled, "REQUIP: FLAME EPRESS ARMOR!" Her body was suddenly enveloped in a golden light, and when it dispersed, she was wearing a new set of armor. I yelled, "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" and as the massive fireball hurled towards Erza, she acted as if nothing was there, and it hit her with almost no effect. "Wha-" I tried to say before she charged at me and hit me with a scythe she just made appear out of thin air. "You'll have to do better that that if you want to defeat me," she yelled, "Flame empress armor makes me almost invulnerable to fire, and this scythe is impossible to melt." Damn it, I thought, what am I supposed to do? "If that's the case," I said, "then I'll just have to smash that armor to pieces" I ran towards her with both of my fists engulfed in flames and yelled, "FIRE DRAGON CLAW BARRAGE!" With every hit, her armor became weaker and weaker until it managed to break. "Huff… huff…" I managed to break that armor, I thought, but I'm all out of magic power what am I supposed to do? "Impressive," she said, "but it seems that you are all out of magic power, so I have won this battle." She walked away with an arrogant look on her face. "Hey! Come back here! I'm not done with you yet!" I yelled while I started to fall to the ground and pass out. I woke up in what seemed to be a near empty infirmary, with Natsu sitting next to my bed. "Hey brother," Natsu said, "How're you felling?" " Ugh, my head. Where am I?" Natsu responded. "You're in the guild's infirmary, and you've been unconscious from that fight of yours for about two days." "TWO DAYS?" I yelled in surprise. "Yeah," Natsu said, "you nearly gave me a heart attack when you collapsed like you did. You did really well in your fight, but try not to exhaust that much magic energy again okay?" Has he really been this worried about me? As I looked at where he was sitting, and noticed how he smelled, and all of the trash next to him, I could tell he hadn't moved from that spot for a while. He really does care a lot for me I thought. "And you woke up just in time too," Natsu said, "Master is about to announce something important. Come on, follow me." I had struggled to get out of bed and keep up with him. I guess I'm not back up to one hundred percent yet. As we entered the guildhall, I noticed a large crowd in front of the stage, with master, Erza, a blond haired guy with a lightning scar on his face, a woman with white hair, a man with orange hair and a long cloak, and a person with a cloak covering their entire face all up on the stage. "Settle down, settle down," The master said, "Now, I am going to announce the 8 candidates for this year's s-class wizard exam." "S-class exam?" I said. "Cana Alberona, Grey Fullbuster, Loke, Elfman Strauss, Levy McGarden, Macao Conbolt, Bickslow, and finally, Nicholai Kasai." "WHAT?" Natsu and me yelled in unison.

* * *

** OMG what a cliffhanger, not really. Anyway I hope you liked it and I would really like it if you could leave a review because it really helps me to know if its fine or i need to change anything. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, sorry about no upload last week, I was busy. Anyway, I've got this chapter out and i might be able to upload the next chapter after this a bit early next week. Fun fact: I uploaded this at 11:56 pm.**

* * *

"But Gramps, WWHHHYYYYYY?" Natsu whined for the tenth time, " Why does Nicholai get to go but not me?" "For the last time, he had only learned magic the day before, and he managed to defeat Grey and nearly beat Erza. That alone shows that he has the potential to become an s class wizard." Makarov said. "Just give it a rest Natsu," I said, "we are wasting time complaining to master when you could be training with me." "Huh?" Natsu said. "Didn't master say that we could each have a partner?" I asked, "I thought you could be my partner and we could train with each other for the week that we have." "Alright, BUT YOU HAD BETTER NOT START FEELING SUPERIORITY TO ME OR SOME CRAP!" "Fine, but lets get going!" I yelled with irritation. When we got to the little cottage of Natsu's, he said, "Alright, first thing to do is to teach you dragon slayer secret arts, which are advanced dragon slayer spells that are much more powerful than any other normal dragon slayer magic. There are at least three things you need to apply to the maximum when using these spells, explosive power, blunt force, and speed. While you seem to not have trouble in each of these areas, you will need to learn how to combine them in perfect harmony, which can be surprisingly difficult. But before you try to do it yourself, let me show you how it's done." He then gathered up flames in each of his arms, spun the flames into a spiral, propelled the flames in front of him, and yelled, "DRAGONSLAYER SECRET ART: FLAME LOTUS: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" Everything that was anywhere from forty feet in front of him and in a small area around him was nearly obliterated, and an intense shockwave of heat shot out from the blast area. Whoa, I thought, he was right; these spells are a whole different caliber than his other spells. "Yeah!" I exclaimed, "Teach me how to do that! Then next time I see that Erza girl I'll kick her sorry ass!" "Well," Natsu said, "It's not going to be that easy. For your own good, you will need to develop the spell yourself. If you try to imitate my own move, first of all it won't work, and even if it does, you will not be able to use the spell to its full potential, because each different dragon slayer secret art. Second, looking at how much you have been progressing, it is likely that the spell you create could be even more powerful than my spell." I tried to say something, but it was almost completely drowned out by my laughter, "So, *chuckle* you're admitting to me that I'm*chuckle* better than you? *bursts out laughing*" "HEY, I TOLD YOU NOT TO ACT LIKE THAT!" Natsu said, "Although you definitely do have the potential to surpass me, I am still your teacher and you have a long way to go. But for right now, lets just focus on having you develop and master your new spell." "Alright, I've already got an idea for one. I'll bring both of my arms together, ignite them, charge at the opponent, start spinning at a high speed, and create a gargantuan explosion on impact." "Yeah! That's a pretty good idea. But make sure that when you attempt the spell, you find a perfect balance between the three aspects I talked about. Use too much of one aspect and the spell could go haywire and possibly injure you, but use too little, and the spell wont be powerful enough to do anything, and will end up being a waste of your magic power. Anyway, go ahead and give it a go." "Alright," I said as I started to engulf my arms in flames, "Dragonslayer secret art: flame lotus: fire dragons spiral!" I began to spin and charge forward and struck the ground, which created an explosion. "What the hell?" Natsu said, "Your attack failed, but there was no obvious reason for it to have failed. Your speed, explosive power, and blunt force appeared to be balanced, but there was still something missing. Well, it seems you might not be able to pull it off." "WHAT!" I yelled. "Oh quit your whining." Natsu said in a joking tone, "We should focus on something else. Lets try to do a unison raid." "A unison raid?" I asked. "Natsu explained, "It is when two wizards with similar types of magic combine their attacks to create a better, stronger spell, and while we do use the same magic, we should still be able to combine our attacks and make them more powerful." "Okay then," I said, "You ready?" "Yeah," he said, "Let's go!"

*Jump to one week later*

Both Natsu and me stumbled out of the train car ready to barf. "That's it," said Natsu, "I'm never riding in a vehicle again." "Me either, that was not a good first impression of vehicles on me." I said, "At least we're here, now where did master say we should all meet up?" Natsu said, "We need to meet him at the harbor, remember? The s class trial is being held at Tenrou Island, which is the guild's sacred ground. We need to get going though, we don't want to keep them waiting." "Alright, lets go." I said

*Jump to three hours later*

"Ugggghhh," Natsu and me moaned in unison, "This is living hell." I looked over my shoulder and saw what looked like a giant tree sticking out of the ocean, "Natsu, please for the love of everything that is good in this world tell me that that is Tenrou Island." "Oh thank goodness, that's the island," Natsu said. "LISTEN UP EVERYONE!" Makarov yelled, "The first challenge is simple, there will be eight passages, one for each team. In each passage there will either be an s class wizard, another team, or if you're unlucky enough, me. If you can defeat your enemy, you can move onto the next part of the trial. You had better be ready, because the challenge starts now!" People darted out of the boat as well as the master racing for the passages. When Natsu and I got there, only three passages remained. "Quick!" I yelled, "Into that passage!" "What? Why?" Natsu asked. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Now lets go!" I said. It has to be this one, I thought, she has to be here. As I walked down the path my hopes came true as I saw the figure of a woman in armor. As I walked further into the chamber I said, "It's time for a rematch, Erza."

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Anyway thanks for reading, please leave a review because it really helps me figure out if there is anything I can fix. Goodbye, and I'll see you next week.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, sorry about no updates the last few weeks, I've been at camps. I will also be at another sleep away camp next week so there may be no upload next week, but who knows. Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter. Weekly fun fact: I kept listening to this one random song while i wrote this.**

* * *

"Nicholai, you knew she was down this passage?" Natsu asked "Yep!" I said with an excited tone. "But how?" Natsu asked. "Easy," I said, "I could smell her. Surviving on my own for as long as I did, I developed abnormally accurate senses. "Wow," Natsu said as he started to walk towards me, "You're one insane bastard. But don't you think for a second that I am backing down after all of that training. Let's knock Erza for a loop, lets try the combo we worked on." "Right," I said. "You ready over there guys? Erza asked. "Yeah," we said in sync, "but you had better be ready too, 'cause here we come!" "Alright!" she said, "REQUIP: FLAME EMPRESS ARMOR!" as it happened last time, her body was enveloped in a golden light, and when it dispersed, she was wearing that armor, and wielding that scythe again. Both me and Natsu ran to opposite sides of her and yelled "DRAGON SLAYER UNISON: ABSOLUTE FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" Giant fireballs launched out of both of our mouths, and Erza was crushed between the two. Then, just as she was about to get up, we both jumped over her as I engulfed my hand in flames and Natsu prepared another roar attack and yelled, "DRAGON SLAYER UNISON: SUPER PROPELLED FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" While I punched Erza into the ground, Natsu's attack both gave me extra power and hit Erza after it got through me. As the dust cleared, it appeared that we had won. "We, we did it!" I yelled, but as I looked at Natsu he had a look of terror on his face as he stared at the crater we created. "Turn around." He said in a serious tone. When I looked at where Erza had been she was standing up, and although her armor was in shards, she was almost unfazed by that attack. "You had better be in for a surprise if you think I'm going to go down so quickly. Although, if I had not had my flame empress armor, I definitely would have been in trouble." Erza said. "Whatever!" Natsu said nervously, "Just because you managed to protect yourself against our unison raids doesn't mean we're giving up yet! Come on Nicholai, let's-" As Natsu was talking, I abruptly interrupted him, "No," I said, "I know what you're talking about, you don't want me going up against her after what happened last time, but please Natsu, let me beat her on my own. Last time, I got cocky, messed up, and I lost to her, but let me show you that I'm not going to make the same mistake again. My mind is made up, so don't try and stop me." "I wouldn't even think about it," Natsu said, "If that's how you really feel then I don't mind stepping out, but don't you dare go losing to her again, you got that?" "Heh," I smirked and said, "I wouldn't even think about it."

Erza then said, "You done giving yourself a pep talk Nicholai? Because I'm getting tried of waiting on you two." "Yeah," I said as Natsu went to spectate the remainder of the match. "Facing me alone knowing how it ended last time," she said, "That's something I would only expect the likes of Natsu to do." "You may have beaten me last time, but don't even think about underestimating me!" I yelled as I started running towards her. "REQUIP: BLACK WING ARMOR!" she exclaimed as a pitch-black set of armor with wings appeared on her. When I reached her, I engulfed my hand in flames and punched her as hard as I could, but she managed to stop my hand with her scythe. I smiled and said, "Bad choice." I grabbed her scythe, pulled as hard as I could, and managed to get it out of her hands. "Now," I said, "Lets see if this thing really can't melt." I engulfed it with flames as I would do with my body yet it completely maintained its structure. "Perfect. Let me give you a taste of your own medicine Erza. FIRE DRAGON BLADE VOLLEY!" I spun the scythe in a figure eight pattern, and with each hit I could see Erza getting weaker and weaker. "NO!" Erza yelled as she managed to get away from me, "I WON'T LET MYSELF LOSE LIKE THIS! REQIUP: PURGATORY ARMOR!" Suddenly, a set of black, spiky armor and a giant sword matching the armor appeared. What am I going to do, I thought. I've only got enough magic energy for one more big attack. Damnit, it's a big risk, but I've got to try. What's he doing, Natsu thought, the way he's gathering his energy. "DRAGONSLYAER SECRET ART:" No, Natsu thought, he's trying to do the dragon slayer secret art. "NICHOLAI," Natsu screamed, "DON'T DO THAT, YOU'LL DRAIN ALL OF YOUR MAGIC LIKE LAST TIME." "Trust me Natsu, I can do this." I said as I stared engulfing the scythe with my flames. "I've got to stop him." Erza said. As I started to charge towards her spinning the scythe, she began charging towards me, sword ready. As our attacks collided, I yelled, "FLAME LOTUS, FLAME SCYTHE JUDGEMENT!" I can't believe it; Natsu thought, he found what was missing. The collision caused a massive explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Nicholai was standing strong, with Erza on the ground unable to move. "Wow," Natsu exclaimed, "He actually did it." "While I'm not good with losing," Erza said, "I recognize when I'm beat. Good job Nicholai, you managed not only to beat me, but you overpowered my flame empress, black wing, and purgatory armor, and you took my weapon from me and then used it to defeat me. Go on ahead, and keep that scythe, you've earned it." "Thanks, Erza. Come on Natsu let's go." "Right." As we both started down the passage, Erza said, "I don't often cheer for my opponents, but I'll be rooting for you for the rest of the trial. Don't let this victory go to waste, and become an s class wizard." I started to choke up, but managed to say, "I will, Erza."

* * *

**Hey guys, hope you liked it, leave me a review because it really helps me, also tell me in the review section if you want me to write the other fights like this, or just have them tell you the match ups and the outcomes once everyone has finished fighting. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello once again viewers, sorry about no updates for a while (School is torture). Anyway here's chapter 6, and I hope you do enjoy. Fun Fact of the week: I prefer to sit in a tree while I read rather than anywhere else.**

* * *

As we reached the clearing of the path, we started to see the figures of a few of our guild mates. Gray, Jet, Loke, Alzack, Bickslow, Freed, and Makarov, who all looked like they had seen a ghost when we came out of our path. They then all yelled "YOU GUYS ACTUALLY MANAGED TO BEAT ERZA?" "Yeah," Natsu said, "But Nicholai ended up making me step out hardly after starting, so it was mainly him." "OH COME ON, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!" Everyone exclaimed. "Hey, I would stop doubting Nicholai if I were you guys. He's even stronger than me if you look at who we have and haven't beaten." "Stop it Natsu, I nearly ended that fight the same as the last one. We just got lucky, so who ended up fighting who?" "Well," Makarov said, "Macao's team ended up fighting me, you should have seen the looks on their faces when they saw me. Then Cana's team fought Laxus, Bixlow's team and Levy's team faced off, Gray's team fought Mirajane, but Gray had to freeze her for as long as he could and then him and Jet ran down the path and made it here. Elfman's team faced Gildarts, and Loke's team ran into Mystogan, but they won't tell us what actually happened. Either way, now that everyone is here, we can begin the second part of the trial. Now, I hope you all aren't too tired from your fights, because we are going to have a race to the top of the Tenrou tree. The first two teams to the top will win and move on to the final round. Once you are all ready, we can head to the base of the tree." "Alright!" Natsu said, "You ready Nicholai?" "Huh? Uh, yeah, sure Natsu." Nicholai's mind had drifted off thinking about how Erza had been acting around him. For whatever reason, he found her change in attitude towards him utterly baffling. She must've truly believed that he was capable of winning to talk to him with such kindness contrary to how she acted before, and Nicholai sure wasn't going to let her down. "Alright," I said, determined, "I'm ready, lets go."

*TIMESKIP TO 1 HOUR LATER*

The four teams lined up at the base of the tree as master began to go over the rest of this challenges rules. "Alright, as I said before, the first two teams to the top win and will move on to the next round. You have thirty minutes to get your team to the top, and all forms of magic will be allowed. Other than that, good luck, and although you can fight, try to focus on the race instead of beating each others asses." "No promises." Natsu said under his breath, grinning. "Alright! On your mark, get set, GO!" Most of the teams practically trampled each other trying to get to the front, while Bickslow and Freed started to fly up to the top, and Jet completely blew through the stampede of mages. After the teams had spread out, their positions in the race shifted quite a lot throughout the majority of the challenge. Nicholai and Natsu were in third place when they were about two thirds of the way up the tree, (With Bickslow, Freed, and Jet already at the top, and Gray only a short distance above them) and with only about five or six minutes left. "Nicholai," Natsu said as he was climbing, "You have any ideas? Because if we don't do something now, we're out of the s-class trials." "Gimme a second to think Natsu!" I can hardly even think like this, this would be a lot easier if we could just fly up like Freed and Bickslow. "Wait, that's it!" "What's it Nicholai?" Natsu asked as I stopped climbing. I didn't need to answer him, so long as Natsu could follow my example. I jumped out of the tree, and shot massive amounts of fire out from behind me, propelling myself up the tree at an exponential speed. Natsu quickly caught wind and followed suit, and in almost no time at all, we managed to pass by Gray and arrive at the top of the tree in second place. "DAMMIT!" Jet exclaimed, "I CAN'T BELIVE I ACTUALLY LOST A RACE!" He then started to stray away from the group mumbling about how he wasn't the "fastest" anymore. "Well," Makarov said trying to ignore Jet, "It would appear that we have our two teams. Now, once everyone else is here, we can head to where we will be having the final round"

*TIMESKIP TO 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES LATER*

Makarov and the two remaining teams stood on a long stretch of beach while master explained what the final round would be. "This challenge will just consist of a two on two fight, and whichever team is left standing wins." Sounds easy enough," I said in slight confusion. "Here's the tricky part, If even one of your teammates goes down, you will automatically be put of the running for the honorable title of s-class. This will test your ability not only to fight but to protect your comrades." Will master ever cut us some slack, Nicholai thought? "What," said Freed, "Giving up already?" Noticing his own worried expression, Nicholai snapped out of it and showed as much confidence as he could muster. "Don't count on it Freed, me and Natsu have come too far to give up. Natsu, take Bickslow, I've got Freed." "Confidence," Freed snickered, "I like that!" "Let's go baby!" Bickslow yelled in excitement. "Ready. Set. GO!" Fists blazing and eyes determined, Natsu and Nicholai Charged at their opponents. "I've said it once and I'll say it again. Don't… Ever…. UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

* * *

**Cliffhanger ;) Anyway, thank you for reading, again I am very sorry about my absence due to school. I will post as much as my schedule allows. I would also like to mention that this took place after Lissana died, and the reason that Happy hasn't appeared is that he wasn't ever open to the idea of Nicholai being partnered with Natsu, which we will see soon. Anyway, I'm talking too much so I will see you in the next chapter, bye!.**


End file.
